Tag Archives: Dyslexia Awareness

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From Drug Addiction to Academy Award-Winning Actress – A Dyslexia Success Story

Only a few people have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (EGOT). Caryn Elaine Johnson is one of them.

She was born on November 13, 1955 in Chelsea, New York and grew up in a housing project with her brother and mother, who was a nurse and later became a Head Start teacher.

In school, she was called “slow,” “dumb,” “lazy,” or “retarded.” She wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until she was an adult, so when school kept getting harder and harder, she eventually dropped out at 17. With her self-esteem low, she traveled a turbulent road in life, which included poverty, drug addiction, single motherhood, welfare, and a series of wide ranging jobs.

In his interview for the Child Mind Institute, the founder, Dr. Harold Koplewicz, called her a woman of grit and resilience.

Today, we know her as Whoopi Goldberg, actress, comedian, radio host, television personality, author and UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador. Listen to her recall some of her challenges and her mom’s support in her interview with Quinn Bradlee:

She counsels parents to be supportive of their dyslexic children –  “Stop trying to find a reason why it happened… It’s not your fault… Pay attention to how your child is doing stuff.”  

Then, listen to her speak at the Goodwin College 2018 Commencement where she counsels the graduates, after receiving an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.

How can you build your child’s self-esteem at home to combat the negative labels in school?

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Unlocking the Dyslexic Potential

When you consider the vast advancements that have been made in science and technology, and the multiple methods for accessing information, it is fair to say that schools and institutes of learning insist on using, as Dean Bragonier puts it, “the most archaic form of educational media.”

If dyslexia is considered a different way of thinking rather than a disadvantage; if the different patterns of strengths and challenges are kept in mind; if as much importance is placed on those strengths as their difficulties; then early intervention and continued support would be made a priority.

Imagine a world where the thinking skills that dyslexics excel at are used to prepare them to contribute to their communities and the world. What would be the possibilities?

You may be wondering what those skills are. Here are they:

  • Visualizing
    • 75% of dyslexics are above average.
  • Imagining
    • 84% are above average.
  • Communicating
    • 71% are above average.
  • Reasoning
    • 84% are above average.
  • Connecting
    • 80% are above average.
  • Exploring
    • 84% are above average.

After many years of struggle, usually, with very little significant support, many dyslexics gravitate to career paths that cater to their preferred way of thinking.

In my previous article, I cited some data from Dr. Gershen Kaufman. Here’s some more:

  • 35% of all entrepreneurs are dyslexic.
  • 40% of self-made millionaires are dyslexic.
  • Over 50% of NASA engineers are dyslexic.

In his autobiography, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab and the One Laptop per Child Association, called dyslexia the MIT disease because of how common it is among students on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

If you’re not already familiar with the world of dyslexia, it’s time to educate yourself about it and encourage every teacher and educator to do the same. After all, if one in five children are dyslexic, there is at least one child in every class who can be identified with dyslexia.

What are you willing to do to support the movement to reshape the teaching industry in the area of dyslexia?

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The Skinny On Hearing… Listening… And Dyslexia – Part 1

When asked what does our ears do, many people will say that they hear.

Did you know that hearing is not the ear’s only function?

Most of the sensory energy transferred to the brain goes through the ears. They:

  • Regulate balance
  • Direct movement and coordination
  • Permit language
  • Cause us to speak eloquently
  • Make us sing in tune
  • Adjust our eyes when we read
  • Control our arm, hand, and finger movements when we write
  • Protect us from sounds we do not want to hear, e.g. sounds of our own body

In addition to all of that good stuff, the ears are interconnected with several levels of the brain and act as a double antenna through which it receives messages from the body and the environment.

So, you can see, your ears are your link to your inner world and the outside world.

What is listening?

Merriam-Webster defines it as paying attention; hearing something with thoughtful attention.

This definition denotes that listening is an active process through which we make sense of, evaluate and respond to what we hear.

On the other hand, hearing is passive – once the hearing mechanism is physically intact, sound enters the ears and travels along the auditory pathway to the brain, where the sound waves are changed to electrical signals and given meaning.

Listening, therefore, brings harmony within us, as well as in our relationships with others. When listening does not develop in a satisfactory manner, the harmony is broken and good communication is sabotaged.

Although some generate good results with sustained effort on the part of the child, many of the programs promoted as interventions for the reading difficulties experienced by dyslexics are minimally effective.

While there is efficacy in practice, considering Herman Ebbinghaus’ work on memory (without context, about 50% of what is heard is forgotten within 1 hour), most remediation programs include multiple repetitions of instruction with lots of drill and practice, without any work to eliminate underlying issues with foundational skills, like listening.

I have not read any scientific or academic research studies, which looked at improving listening as an avenue for alleviating reading difficulties, but I have my own anecdotal experience. As mentioned in my previous post, when my dyslexic daughter completed The Listening Program, her singing voice improved (the voice can only produce what the ear can hear). In addition to that, she demonstrated better attending skills. This led to increased success in learning and communication.

Have you or any of your children experienced any form of auditory stimulation?

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Dyslexia and the “Sound” of Learning

Knowledge…learning…education, fueled by literacy, are keys to success.

Traditionally, literacy is defined as the ability to read and write.

A more complete definition, however, encompasses listening, speaking, reading and writing and today, using electronic media.

The major goal of every educator and parent should be to instill in children a solid foundation of transferable skills and a life-long love of reading and learning. To stay relevant, our children must constantly update their knowledge base. Hence, the prioritizing of literacy.

Dr.Carol Flexer, professor of audiology at the University of Akron, explains the importance of literacy this way,

“Literacy is inextricably entwined with sound. Immature listening abilities and underdeveloped auditory feedback loops have a substantial impact on how children learn to read.”

Literacy is all about sound. All its components incorporate sound in some way. Children learn to speak from listening. They learn to read from speaking and to write from reading.

Although our ears are the conduits for sound, we hear with our brains. Human development studies tell us that the human auditory brain structure does not fully mature until around age 15.

When brains do not receive intact sound, it is usually due to any one or a combination of factors, which include a noisy environment, ear infection, lack of auditory experience or immature brain development. Dyslexics have trouble connecting the sounds that make up words with the letters that represent those sounds. For them, the problem is often immature brain development.

Brain development studies show that sensory stimulation can influence growth and organization of auditory brain pathways.

That is why a number of currently available programs are helping dyslexic children develop their language and literacy skills. They are able to stimulate the auditory centers of the brain with precise sound. Music listening therapy helped my daughter tremendously.

This is good news for the dyslexic community.

Does this mean that every dyslexic person who receives this type of stimulation will learn to read at the same level as his non-dyslexic peers?

No.

Just as there is a continuum in the severity of characteristics in dyslexics, there is variety in their response to various sound development programs.

As technology takes over more and more, the skills that dyslexics find challenging are on the decline, while the thinking skills needed in today’s workplace are an integral component of their strengths.

Does interpretation of sound still matter? Yes.

But let us keep things in perspective. The goal is to learn concepts and generate ideas that will serve humanity and improve society.

There’s eye-reading – print books; ear-reading – audiobooks; and finger reading – braille. Whichever method one uses to accomplish this goal, is what’s best for him.

Which method of reading do you and your children prefer?

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From School Dropout to Founder of the Virgin Group – A Dyslexia Success Story

“I was dyslexic, I had no understanding of schoolwork whatsoever. I certainly would have failed IQ tests.” ~ Richard Branson

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born on July 18, 1950, at Blackheath, London. His father was a barrister and his mother a flight attendant. His academic performance was poor. He was always interested in becoming an entrepreneur, so he dropped out of school at age 15, to start his first business…a magazine named Student. Listen to this interview in which he credits dyslexia with helping him.

He founded the Virgin Group in the 1970s. In 1984, he started Virgin Atlantic Airlines. In 2004, he founded spaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port, for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism. Today, his group controls more than 400 companies in various fields.

Having faced a lifetime of failures, Branson noted, “I suppose the secret to bouncing back is not only to be unafraid of failures but to use them as motivational and learning tools.”

Branson learned he was dyslexic as an adult. In one of his many interviews, he counseled, “Never give up… Fight, fight, fight to survive.”

Talking about dreams, he says, “If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small.”

Do you have a dream that scares you?

Have you asked your children (dyslexic and non-dyslexic) about their dream lately?

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Decoding Dyslexia – Decoding the Mind

When most people consider dyslexia, they think it is just about struggling to read. What is often missed is that there is also a speech processing component involved.

If parents and teachers are aware of initial warning signs of dyslexia, early intervention with research-based remediation can be used to help these children.

It is easy for observers to label children who confuse letters like b and d as dyslexic while missing those who struggle to link letters with sounds.

When I worked in a public school district as a speech-language pathologist, many teachers complained that some of their students were unable to recognize, much less manipulate, the sounds in words – a process (phonological decoding) that is unconscious and automatic, but still an integral part of reading.

Knowing that I advocated for screening and helping dyslexic students, they were quick to tell me about the students who confused letters, not realizing that letter reversals are common to all students up to grade one, but although perplexed and frustrated with the students who were unable to hear and process sounds, they never linked their difficulty with dyslexia.

Whereas speaking is a natural outgrowth of listening and associating with speaking adults and older children, reading must be taught. However, it requires some prerequisite skills. The child must somehow recognize that spoken words are made up of sounds, or else the work that letters do becomes mysterious.

The reading brain network uses mechanisms from the speech and language brain network. Because of that, atypical speech in young children is a red flag for atypical reading and also dyslexia.

So, parents, when you read Dr. Seuss’s books and nursery rhymes to your children and they have trouble with the rhymes and wordplay, take that as warning signs and have your child screened for dyslexia. You can read more about the connectedness in the phenomenal human brain here.

Did you know that children who demonstrate difficulty with speech, like mispronouncing long words, or transposing phrases, words, and syllables when speaking could be dyslexic?

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3 Weaknesses of Dyslexics and How to Compensate for Them

Have you ever experienced frustrating moments while helping your dyslexic child with homework and wished there was a quick fix?

When my daughter was in kindergarten, her teacher would send home vocabulary and spelling words to learn. We would spend hours going through those cards until she appeared to know the words. To my horror, when she brought home the results of her end-of-week quizzes, most of those words were incorrectly spelled on her paper.

As the school year progressed, my exasperation mounted. KC would verbally spell the words correctly to me at home but write them inaccurately at school. Looking back, with the knowledge I have today, I should have asked her teacher to give her oral spelling tests.

Here are 3 weaknesses I identified in my daughter, and what I did about them.

  1. Reading – She confused words that were visually similar e.g. saw and was, most likely because she had difficulty telling left from right, and in the English language reading always goes from left to right.
    • First, we talked about the meaning of the words then used pictures to activate the visual word form area in her brain.
    • So, we looked at the picture of a saw and talk about it.
    • Since there is no picture for was, she would use modeling clay to spell the word, then create a clay sculpture to represent the definition. That way, she produced her own image, which I directed her to take a picture of with her mind’s eye.
  2. Spelling – She seemed to memorize words based on their shapes. KC was unable to hear individual alphabet sounds, then match them to the letters and combinations of letters in words.
    • I found or generated creative ways of spelling words that incorporated the meaning of the word. Jennifer’s video here helped me, as she demonstrated this visual conceptual method.
    • For multi-syllabic words, I told little stories, for example, I told her that separate has a rat in it. She never spelled it wrong after that.
    • When I discovered music listening therapy, I enrolled her, to wake up the auditory pathways in her brain.
  3. Time-keeping – KC seemed to frequently get stuck in the moment, generating one idea after another and a series of What-ifs? Needless to say, time ran away leaving her way behind in her chores or whatever activities she was supposed to engage in during a particular period of time.
    • After talking about the importance of timeliness, we sat down and agreed on a solution to her tendency.
    • We placed a check-off list for chores on the refrigerator with completion times included.
    • I taught her a 3-step strategy:
      • Write her desired goal on paper. (Meaning and intention were the objectives here, not spelling)
      • Generate an action plan
      • Make a schedule that included all the steps of her plan, and follow it.
    • She still creates and uses schedules, today.

Thinking back to the quick fix I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I’ll tell you this – quick fixes serve a purpose, but they don’t bring lasting solutions. Addressing the problem head-on and brainstorming with your child, will bring workable results.

What has been your most frustrating moments while helping your dyslexic child with homework?

Or, what stories have your friends told you about their children’s academic challenges in elementary school?

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Perspective: A Letter to My Dyslexic Daughter

Looking back…

My dearest K,

You have come to the end of the second grade, and today, we were both surprised that your teacher wants to retain you.

She said:

  • Your handwriting is poor.
  • Your spelling is terrible and you cannot sound out words.
  • You can’t read simple “sight” words and come up with distractions to get away from reading when your turn comes around.
  • You don’t know your times tables.

I say:

  • You see things in a different way from your classmates and that helps you use your imagination in special ways to figure out problems.
  • You find patterns quickly and can arrange things so they fit into any space.
  • You tell stories in such a creative way, using simple things around that, both children and adults are amazed.
  • You won the science fair because you were the only child who could explain your project in detail.

It’s almost time to go back to school. After working with Ms. Lynn this summer, we now know why you have been having trouble with some things at school.

I want you to know that you are not stupid.

You are dyslexic.

Dyslexia is not a disease.

It is not a curse.

It is your superpower.

I will help you be the best that you can be.

Oh the places you will go because of your dyslexic brain!

Love,

Mom

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From Struggling Student to Business Magnate – A Dyslexia Success Story

Today we know him as one of the “Sharks” on the ABC hit television show, “Shark Tank.” Life wasn’t always so rosy for Daymond John, but an insightful mother made a huge difference.

Although he excelled in mathematics and science, he struggled with selling and anything requiring extensive reading and writing. When his parents took him to a professional for evaluation, they were told he had a behavioral issue. Fortunately, his mother did not believe that to be true.

He admitted that his father would often angrily yell at him to stop slacking. Getting tired of the struggle, Daymond signed up for the co-op program at his high school. This program allowed him to work full-time for one week in a business field and attend school full-time the next. He knew that he couldn’t rely on his report card, so he focused on showcasing his strengths in the co-op program.

Today, he’s on a mission to bring awareness to people that there’s nothing to be ashamed of if you are dyslexic. Listen to him and his mother discuss dyslexia as a strength.

He always thought he was a genius, and his drive and determination to channel his insights into entrepreneurial, marketing and branding success, have led him to become an in-demand motivational speaker, and the Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year as well as Crain’s Business of New York Under Forty Award.

In this video as he continues chatting with his mom, he discusses the beginnings of his business venture.

If you take the time to chat with them, most dyslexics will tell you about their strengths, be it entrepreneurial, artsy, or athletic. They know where their strengths lie.

What entrepreneurial interests have you seen in your child?